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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29664333">Gas Station</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/groovymilton/pseuds/groovymilton'>groovymilton</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Amazing World of Gumball</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bad English, Cheesy, Comfort, Fluff, M/M, so a lot of grammar mistakes :'), sorry im spanish</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 23:06:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,653</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29664333</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/groovymilton/pseuds/groovymilton</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A different night shift.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Larry Needlemeyer/Steve Small</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Gas Station</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>(Repost bc I deleted it the first time out of panic)</p>
<p>Which is gayer :<br/>Being gay<br/>Whatever the fuck Larry and Mr.Small got going on</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Larry sighed. What a rough Monday. Or was it Thursday? He didn't really know or care, everyday was the same no matter the date. After a day of non-stop working, Larry always spent the night at the gas station,his night shift was his "favourite", not that he liked it since he wasn't allowed to sleep,but it was the less stressing one. Who's going to go to the gas station at 2AM? No one but the police officer in his night watch, who always asked for a couple of donuts — despite literally being a donut — and another couple of hotdogs. But he had already came in tonight so for the rest of it until 5, he had nothing to do. Well, not exactly, trying not to fall asleep rethinking all his life and how the hell he ever ended up like that. </p>
<p>Sometimes he checked the inventory for the millionth time to distract himself, other times he mopped the floor until he could see himself perfectly on it, and another few times he played tic-tac toe with himself on a piece of paper. Yeah, that wasn't very fun.</p>
<p>He was about to win yet another match as the X when he heard the sound of the automated doors opening. Without even looking up from his paper he repeated "Good night" to whoever had came in. Another police officer he assumed.</p>
<p>After some seconds, the faint sound of an object being placed on the counter woke him up from his overthinking. Someone wanted to buy a small box of matches. When looking right in front him, on the other side of the glass, he felt his heart stop for a second, his legs all weak and his face warmer than usual.</p>
<p>"Oh, Steve." He said blinking fastly. He wanted to make sure he wasn't hallucinating that his boyfriend was right there at that hour in the night.</p>
<p>"Good night Larry!" Steve smiled placing his hands on the counter. He had that calm yet cheerful tone that Larry loved to hear.</p>
<p>"I didn't…" The origami cleared his throat and gained his composture. "I didn't know it was you who came in, sorry." He said slightly rubbing his neck with one hand.</p>
<p>"It's okay, I know you're busy."</p>
<p>There he was. Looking at him through the glass, his yellow and red eyes focused on his, and a warm smile that felt like a cup of hot chocolate on the coldest day of winter. Larry was speechless. After realizing he had been staring at him for a bit — and that he looked dumb doing it — he shaked his head, grabbing the matches.</p>
<p>"Just this?"</p>
<p>"Yeah! I need them for my aromatic candles." Steve placed a hand on his chest. "Meditation is way more pleasant with that sweet smell." He said in a dreamy tone.</p>
<p>"Right… at almost 3AM." Larry crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow. "You come to the gas station late at night to buy a single box of matches. I know you Steve you never meditate at night because…" He put his hands on the air, waving them "...your energies are more active at daytime."</p>
<p>"Yeah well…"</p>
<p>"And it is Tuesday, don't you have work tomorrow? You should be sleeping."</p>
<p>"It's Wednesday."</p>
<p>"Whatever." Larry crossed his arms again, rolling his eyes."Steve?"</p>
<p>"Alright, dammit." He sighed. "I just wanted an excuse to come see you…"</p>
<p>"I've told you many times, get your sleep, do your life, go to work, and don't worry about me." Resting his hands on the counter again, Larry left the box of matches on it, but before he could even move to check how much the matches were, Steve placed his hand on Larry's, sending a shock through the clerk's body that made him freeze. His hand was pleasantly warm.</p>
<p>"But I miss you so much…" The cloud's smile disappeared, his face now saddened. He talked in a lower voice now, almost whispering. "And I worry about you. What you do is not normal." He gently caressed his boyfriend's hand with his thumb. He felt like smooth cardboard. He loved it.</p>
<p>"It's normal for me." But Steve was right. Taking care of almost every job in Elmore wasn't normal. That went through his mind a lot of times, almost everyday. How did he even do it? He didn't know, he just did it. And it worked. "I miss you too Steve, but you really don't need another thing to worry about. Being a teacher must be hard and stressing enough." They both drove their sight from their hands on each other's to their eyes at the same time. With a little smile, Larry said : "I'm ok Steve."</p>
<p>What was going on? Larry felt his eyes start to get watery, his breath became irregular and his lip shaked a little. He didn't want to cry. He couldn't cry, not in front of Steve. Laurence didn't pay a lot of attention to his emotions. He knew he wasn't ok, but everytime his head started telling him that he was wasting his life, that once he died he would be quickly and easily replaced and that to the people of Elmore, he was nothing but a store clerk, a waiter, a mailman, a delivery guy, someone in the background there to serve them and tell them they were right when most of the time they weren't, he just felt like collapsing to the floor and crying until his eyes couldn't shed a single tear anymore. But it was fine, as long as Steve didn't ask the question.</p>
<p>"Are you sure?" Steve frowned.</p>
<p>"Yeah, sure." The clerk sighed heavily."Right, your matches… Let me-"</p>
<p>"Are you really ok Laurence?"</p>
<p>Well, there it is.</p>
<p>The only sentence that had almost like a spell on Larry and managed to make him break down.</p>
<p>Larry shut his eyes, frowning. His heart felt like it was going to stop at any moment again. He gripped the box of matches strongly, tensing his body and slightly biting his lower lip as it trembled more. "Don't cry Laurence, don't cry Laurence, don't cry…." He repeated to himself in his head, but Steve had seen many people — children, specifically — hold their tears before. He knew when someone needed to cry.</p>
<p>"You can tell me anything Laurence, you know it…" Every single time Steve used his full name, Larry felt like he was in a dream. It was surreal how good it made him feel when that dumb hippie guy said his name in that calm tone. He had never been more in love in his life.</p>
<p>"I'm." Was all he managed to say in a shaky voice before sobbing, lowering his head not to let the other see the tears roll down his face. He breathed heavily, choking up as his shoulders went up and down and his head started to hurt. He had a lot of things to cry about. And he had been holding those tears for way too long.</p>
<p>Steve placed his other hand on Larry's getting nearer, as much as the window between them let him. "Oh Larry, it's alright…" He said in a comforting voice, looking at him, with such empathy he also felt like crying. He didn't mind Larry crying. He was patient when those things happened, he was a school counsellor after all, children came in with their problems and sometimes they needed to shed some tears, and that's fine. Sometimes you just need to have a long crying session.</p>
<p>"Sorry I'm-"</p>
<p>"Oh no, no Larry don't apologize… Come here."</p>
<p>The origami nodded, tears still flowing down and his vision blurry. He went around the counter and fell on Steve's warm, soft arms, who were already open waiting for him. The cloud held him gently, placing his hands on his back and moving them up and down slowly, as Larry held him strongly, burying his face on his chest, letting the tears flow more and more. At this point he didn't hold it in at all. He cried, he groaned, he choked, he shaked and he gasped, freeing himself from that pain in his chest that did nothing but get bigger each day.</p>
<p>"Shhh i'm here….cry all you need, love"</p>
<p>God damn, Steve wasn't helping at all. Calling him "love" just made him want to cry more. He wished he could stay like that forever. Against his chest with his fluffy arms around him as he called him all the pet names he loves to hear, he could fall asleep on his arms, wake up in them and basically never leave him. If only he had a single regular job, he could be living his perfect life by his side, he wouldn't even be crying in a gas station out of stress —among other things— he would be peacefully sleeping next to him, probably hugging each other, to wake up in the morning still embracing him and take their time to wake up. He had thought about that so many times.</p>
<p>Steve closed his eyes as he felt Larry cry against his chest. He was the person he cared about the most and seeing him be put through so much work made him think about how hard it must be to be himself for even a day. Steve's life was way simpler, Monday to Friday he went to school, gave his class, did whatever he needed to do in his office then drove back home to his daily spiritual practices, to then do the usual grocery shopping or simply have a walk in the park. Sure, his job was difficult sometimes, but definitely not Larry levels of difficulty. He hoped everyday for him to have at least one day off, just so they could spend it relaxing together.</p>
<p>Larry's crying became more paused and hushed after a little, as he pulled away from his boyfriend's chest.</p>
<p>"There, are you feeling a bit….?" Steve stopped. Larry had the colorful tie dye pattern of his shirt smeared all over his face. He tried not to laugh, but it was kind of funny and cute how his cheeks were still red and his eyes, looking down, still watery, with his face looking like a unicorn just puked all over him. "A bit better?"</p>
<p>"I guess." Laurence inhaled and exhaled, rubbing one of his eyes and sobbing once again. "Yeah I think I can't even remember why I was upset in the first place now." He chuckled. Steve was right. All he needed was to let some tears fall.</p>
<p>The cloud smiled at him, wiping away the last tears with the side of his hand. Before he could put it away, Larry held it against his cheek, rubbing his palm with it as Steve drew small circles with his thumb. Again, he thought of how much he loved that soft cardboard texture.</p>
<p>"Let me see." Steve grabbed a tissue from his pocket, cleaning the fabric dye from his boyfriend's face. Larry's legs felt like jelly as he gently rubbed the tissue on it. "There you go!"</p>
<p>"But your shirt is now a little…"</p>
<p>"Don't worry, I have to re-dye it anyways. But now that you're all clean I can do this!" And without thinking about it two times, he placed his hands on Larry's waist, pulling him closer into a kiss that caught the clerk by surprise.</p>
<p>For a second he couldn't react, but afterwards he rested his hands on Steve's shoulders, closing his eyes and feeling his heart beat faster than ever. He didn't get to kiss him like that a lot, sometimes, if they saw each other, Steve would kiss his cheek or Larry would lean asking for a peck, but nothing lasted more than one or two seconds. This was lasting more than that though.</p>
<p>The 2D man laughed as he pulled away, Larry saw his face was slightly red as well. It made him want to kiss him again so he did pushing his shoulders a little so their lips could meet again, this time for a shorter span. If they were in a cartoon, hearts would have started to come out of both of them. Wait a minute.</p>
<p>As they pulled away with the dumbest smile on their faces, they let their foreheads meet while Larry slid one of his hands down Steve's soft arm to hold his hand, still resting on his waist. Closing his eyes, the rock wished more than everything in the world for that moment to never end.</p>
<p>"I guess all I needed was to cry like a baby." Laurence broke the silence.</p>
<p>"That happens."</p>
<p>"But seriously." Larry sighed heavily, making direct eye contact with his boyfriend. "Thank you. I didn't even need to talk and well, I think just letting the tears flow helped more than a conversation."</p>
<p>"Sometimes you just need a shoulder to cry on and nothing else. Hypothetically or literally." The cloud said looking at the decolored spot on his shirt, still feeling wet from the tears."You don't have to thank me though. You know I'll always be here for you."</p>
<p>"I know." He hesitated a bit to say the following words since he wasn't used to them. Despite being with Steve for almost a year, this whole affection and demonstrations of love things were still sort of new to him. Still, he said them, straight out of his heart. "I love you."</p>
<p>"I love you too Laurence." After kissing his forehead, he turned around to see a clock on the wall. 3:40 AM? Man, that got late, and he was supposed to have to wake up in three hours. He should do as his boyfriend had told him before and get some rest already.</p>
<p>"Well, I think I'm gonna go now." Said Steve placing his hands on his hips, slightly saddened tone of voice. He really didn't want to leave him but it wasn't like he wasn't going to see him again after that. He'll see him again tomorrow, or well, today. "You're right, tomorrow's another day, and you know what? I've been trying to have a healthier sleep schedule and its going good so far, don't wanna break that!"</p>
<p>"Oh, nice!" Larry smiled, happy to hear he was doing such a small but significant change. "What, your chakras need sleep too or something?" He said jokingly, leaning towards him with his arms crossed.</p>
<p>"Actually, yes" Steve frowned.</p>
<p>"Psh, alright." Laurence didn't believe in those things at all, but they made Steve happy and he seemed to be real serious about it all, so he always appreciated whenever he talked about that with him, even if he didn't understand half a word he was saying.</p>
<p>"Listen to your soul, Laurence! It's speaking to me…" Waving his hands and with a slow, deep voice that made Larry laugh he acted : "You need a day oooooff….. So Steve can take you on a picniiic."</p>
<p>"My soul is telling me I need to reorganize the shelves of the drinks aisle at the supermarket tomorrow." He said placing his finger on Steve's chest, as the other poked out his tongue in a childish way. "You know what happens if I take a day off, anyways."</p>
<p>"Alrighty, whatever you say, but don't be surprised if I come in this late again another day!" The cloud headed to the door, pointing at Larry who was already walking behind the counter again.</p>
<p>"See you tomorrow, Steve." He said holding his laugh. There can't be anything done about this guy.</p>
<p>"Night night!" Was the last thing Larry heard from his boyfriend, as the sound of the automated doors gave him a bit of a déjà vu.</p>
<p>With the smile still on his face, Larry rubbed his eyes once again, resting his arms on the desk. He noticed the box of matches. Shaking his head, he grabbed it to put it back were they belonged.</p>
<p>"You forgot your matches idiot."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hope you liked this new confirmed scene for the gumball movie/j</p></blockquote></div></div>
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